Mum tricked by internet lies of sex offender

A SEX offender banned from having contact with children tricked a mum-of-three he met on a dating website into not only starting a relationship - but letting him move in.

Manipulative Andrew Buckingham told the woman, who had children aged two, four and seven, that he had a history of violent offending.

But he neglected to inform her that he was, in fact, also subject to an indefinite sexual offences prevention order after being jailed for engaging in sexual activity in front of a young child.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Buckingham, 22, repeatedly told suspicious police he was homeless, despite appearing remarkably well kept, and claimed he was living “behind a big black bush”.

But he was then caught out when officers spotted him walking with a woman as she pushed a pram.

When asked whether he had stayed at the woman’s home, Buckingham admitted he had and was placed under arrest.

In interview, he revealed that he had met the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on the Oasis internet dating website.

From September 23 onwards he had stayed at her home three nights a week, and from November he had stayed most nights.

In her statement, the woman said: “I was really upset and angry when I found out. I can’t believe I didn’t know and he would never have told me.

“I feel angry that his mother allowed him to continue seeing me and my children when she knew what he had done.

“I no longer want to be in a relationship with Andy and I want him nowhere near my children.”

Amazingly, it was the second time Buckingham, of Falconwood Close, Gidlow, had been caught out too - he had earlier been recalled to prison after contacting another young mum after being released on licence.

Katy Appleton, defending, asked for her client to be given full credit for his early guilty plea.

She told how Buckingham had met the woman when he was “homeless, lonely and depressed” and that she had been “the best thing that ever happened to him”.

Ms Appleton added that her client had never been left alone with her children.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones described Buckingham as “a manipulative individual”.

He said: “Not only did you fail to inform this woman of your past, you actively misled her into thinking otherwise. It’s clear to me that this was a flagrant, blatant breach.